Women’s shelter faces funding crunch
St Anne’s Home in Woodstock - a 119-year-old shelter for abused women and children - is struggling to stay afloat, says board member Pat September.
“If we don’t find R250 000 by the middle of the month, we will not be able to meet any of our operational expenses,” she says.
These include salaries as well as water and electricity bills, food, insurance, armed-response security and internet access.
The main home in Balfour Street, Woodstock, has 12 staff and currently accommodates eight women and 12 children.
St Anne’s has two more homes - another one in Woodstock and a third in Ruyterwacht. These are smaller premises that each provide independent living to two mothers and their three children. The occupants pay a nominal rent of R800 a month with St Anne’s covering all the operational expenses.
Ms September said they had been tapping existing donors, past donors, corporations and international volunteers to raise the money. “While they do provide support, it is not enough to sustain us fully."
As a result, the organisation had had to cut back on many of its services over the past year, including swimming lessons, music therapy and play therapy for the children in the home's educare.
In the past, the organisation had paid a counsellor to do eight sessions a week with women at the home, but now it could only afford five sessions a month, said Ms September. And a few months ago, the organisation had to sell one of its two vehicles to raise money to help cover monthly expenses.
Ms September said if the home failed to raise additional funding by mid-December it would have to consider stringent budget cuts including salaries.
She said the organisation only received the equivalent of R70 a day per woman and R17 a day per child as a subsidy from the provincial Department of Social Development every three months.
Last Thursday, Premier Alan Winde and Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez delivered 21 solar-powered lanterns to St Anne’s to help it during load shedding.
Asked about funding for St Anne's, Mr Winde said: “Our money is being curtailed; the South African Revenue Services is not raising taxes, and that affects the government. If we do not have the money, we can’t spend it."
As a result, he said, NGOs were feeling the pinch as there was no money to increase funding. He praised the work done by St Anne's and urged the public to support the organisation.
St Anne’s chairman, Chance Chagunda, said they were grateful for the lanterns. “We can use this in every section of the home, when it's dark. It gets very scary and using the flashlight is not enough.”
However, Ms September said they were concerned their lights might go off for good if they can’t find the money to pay their electricity bill.
A charity shop brought in between R20 000 and R30 000 a month, but it was not enough to cover all the monthly expenses, she said.
Former St Anne’s resident, Lorraine Jantjies, 32, from Woodstock, said she had come to the home in 2021 from an emotionally abusive relationship.
“I stayed here for over two months, and talking with the social worker helped me to heal,” she said, adding that art classes at the home had also helped.
Another former resident, Andiswa Mangali, 36, from Nyanga, said she had come to the home in 2014 with her son, who was two months old at the time. Ms Mangali said she had left an emotionally abusive partner and the home had been very supportive.
Contact St Anne’s at 021 448 6792 or 021 448 8513 or info@stanneshomes.org.za
